- Country reported: South Africa
The khodumodumo was a cryptid reported from South Africa in around the 1930's. With a name said to mean "gaping-mouthed bush monster", it was described as a nocturnal animal which silently broke into livestock pens to kill sheep, goats, and calves. It was capable of climbing or jumping over 6-foot fences with prey in its jaws, and left circular tracks with 2-inch claw-marks. Numerous attacks were made on kraals in the Graaff-Reinet area, Eastern Cape, and a posse of more than 100 settlers failed to find the animal.[1] Bernard Heuvelmans equates it with the Nandi bear.[2]
Nobody ever saw the monster, and there were several theories at the time as to its identities. Some believed it was a "freak" hyena, although hyenas drag their prey, cannot leap 6-foot-fences, and, according to Captain William Hichens, moan before a kill and shriek like a demon afterwards. Lions and leopards do leap fences, but Hichens wrote that they grunt during kills and roar afterwards, and often also roar before an attack in an attempt to stampede their prey.[3]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Eberhart, George (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology
- ↑ Heuvelmans, Bernard (1955) On the Track of Unknown Animals
- ↑ Hichens, William, "African Mystery Beasts" Discovery 18 (1937)